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And with that, he threw himself out the window.
Finding strength I didn’t think I had, I pushed myself off the bed and to the window, but the force of the blast shattered the glass and threw us back.
“No! No! No! No!” Evelyn screamed…I screamed…it was all just screams.
I was useless.
I was fucking useless.
When I tried…they died.
When I did nothing…they died.
Ah. Why can’t I save anyone? Why?
CALLIOPE
I lay over Gigi’s body, blocking the glass from reaching her.
I lay there for…for I wasn’t sure how long.
The smell of smoke and fire filled the room, telling me what I’d just witnessed wasn’t a nightmare. It was a reality. It was real. My daughter’s life was saved, but another one was taken right in front of us.
Slowly I pulled myself off the floor, sitting on my knees, looking at the room…looking over them. Sedric stood dazed, staring at the hole where the window used to be. Nari wept on the floor beside her mother. Wyatt was at Evelyn’s side as she’d collapsed. Whether it was pain or grief or anger, she’d collapsed. Helen was beside her father and Declan as he sat with his hands on his head. No one needed to see. They all knew.
Neal A. Callahan was dead.
Murdered by an Orsini.
Smiling and with ease, he had given up life for my daughter, his grandniece.
Reaching up, I touched my eyes. Shocked at the water coming out of them. Tears? I didn’t do tears. Quickly, I tried to blink them away, but for some reason, they kept coming.
“Stop,” I muttered to myself, rubbing my eyes and rising from the floor. Cleaning my face, I took a deep breath, calming myself down.
This was not a time for crying.
Mrs. Callahan couldn’t stop to cry.
The Callahans couldn’t stop and cry because there was always someone else waiting to cut them down if they bowed their heads. I was mad at Ethan, but maybe this was what he had seen that I hadn’t. That Siena may have been my enemy, but she had family, her son, my half-brother, and he had family, my mother, and half-sister. It was all fucking twisted. There was a rumor that to be Mrs. Callahan, you had to abandon your old family. I didn’t consider them family, but they were. And I couldn’t abandon them.
I’d had to kill them.
Every Orsini had to die for this.
I looked down at my daughter. I would make sure to add this part to the story for her one day. She needed to know the cost of her life, so she wouldn’t stop fighting for it.
Both of them. I thought, placing my hand on my stomach.
“Helen, you will stay with Gigi in the bunker—only you. Wyatt, you stay to watch over Evelyn and everyone else.” When I looked up, they were staring at me—all but one. I walked over to him, placing my hands on his shoulder, but he shrugged me off.
“Don’t touch me,” Sedric sneered, his eyes wide, and when he turned, his eyes held nothing but rage. “This is all your fault! All of this! If you never came… If you fucking just stayed where the fuck you’ve been hiding with your brat—this wouldn’t have happened!” With every other word, he basically spat in my face.
“Blame me if you want. But blame me after we’ve killed the people responsible for this. Every last one of them will die today. I will help you do it!”
“I don’t want your fucking help—”
I punched him as hard I could into the gut, causing him to gasp. “Your father was murdered. You are heartbroken and hate me. I get it. However, don’t let your hate for me blind you to the fact that we were attacked. This was an attack. So, either way, I will go! I will fight! Because there is no way in fucking hell that I am letting your father’s murderer go free after what he did for me. Not any of them. They will die. Anyone left with the name Orsini will die for what they did to him. I am going. Are you coming with me or not?”
